McLean Clean & Lean jerky is distributed by McLean Meats Inc. based out of West Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada. The company was founded by Garth McLean who began his career in the meat industry as a truck driver delivering sides of pork. As Garth worked his way up into sales, he became personally involved in every aspect of the commercial meat industry. Dismayed with all the chemicals and preservatives found in food, he developed his own line of nitrite-free deli meat. In 2003, Garth partnered with Michelle Neilson, and together they rebranded the company in 2004 as McLean Meats. This jerky is manufactured by a private labeler named Made-Rite located in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, making this a stock recipe.

Ingredient Review

The cattle have free range access to graze on grass. They are also ethically raised, meaning no additional antibiotics or growth hormones are given. The beef is carefully sourced from selected farms in the USA and Canada.

Taste Review

Most of the pieces of jerky are small in size, with about a medium thickness. The texture is dry, but not too dry, which results in jerky that is relatively easy to chew. There are no signs of fat, and handling this jerky leaves no oily residue on your fingers.

At first, the jerky tastes non-descript. Then some of the flavors begin to develop. More than anything, the actual natural beef flavor stands out the most, the way an old fashioned flavor should taste. While not that salty of a jerky, the salt taste perhaps stands out the most. This jerky is in no means sweet tasting. There is a certain pleasant blend of flavors.

This 1.7 ounce/50 gram bag was purchased for $3.99, which works out to $2.34 an ounce. That is a borderline averageprice. This jerky is highly recommended to anybody who prefers the actual jerky beef flavor, and not some overpowering type of flavor. There are high quality ingredients used.

Bag Review

This bag is not resealable, and you need a sharp object to open it. There are labels affixed to both the front and back of this transparent bag. On the front label, there is the McLean Clean & Lean logo of a farm, on top of a scenic picture showing a farm and the surrounding land.

All of the important bag categories are covered. There is no description about McLean Meats Inc. but in fairness there is no free space. For all jerky bags packaged in Canada, French translations are required.